SHORT READS

“I always wonder how in the world (insert a name) gets so many offers and opportunities, like speaking at XYZ conference or getting an invitation for ABC. No one understands what he is selling. Frankly, when it comes to credentials, I am a lot more qualified… I network a lot, too! I just don’t understand what he does differently.”

Have you ever wondered about the same thing?

Then, you are in luck. This is NOT one of those articles you find online about networking & creating reciprocity. Here, I am going to share the secrets I found from successful entrepreneurs by closely observing what they practice (most of the time subconsciously).

The reason this post is different from other “how to identify & attract business opportunities” articles is I am going to touch on some facts that not many discuss publicly. You won’t find this on social media timelines. It’s because what I have here is the result of many “behind closed doors” conversations.

To be honest, as a revenue & growth strategist (link), I was a bit hesitant to even talk about this, as none of these are “strategies.” But at the end of this post, I will tie it all together.

And…there is more. As a little bonus, I am going to share one thing the entrepreneurs I observed would NOT do at the end of the post. This is going to help you assess whether you’ve been growing your business the right way or not.

Curious?

But wait.

Before diving in, let me define what “successful” means in this post since it’s a pretty broad & subjective term. Let’s start with what it’s not. Here, I don’t define successful entrepreneurs as simply those who generate a specific amount of revenue, i.e. 7 figures, 8 figures, etc. Rather, they satisfy these 3 things that are essential to be a confident and fulfilled entrepreneur:

These are the only 3 jobs CEOs are responsible for. The ones I know who are doing great also have one more thing in common: they receive various business opportunities at all times. If you like the way I clarified the definition of “successful entrepreneurs,” you are in for a treat!

“Maiko, there was a client who just called up the office really angry, demanding a refund. He was really angry & rude yelling at me the whole time... What do we do?!!! I didn’t know what to say, so I just told him someone will get back to him… He wasn’t happy to hear that…”

Clearly, the person who took the call was caught off guard and was shaken up by what she had to go through.

Before going any further, let me paint a picture here.

In this particular case, the person who called angry isn’t my client. That is my client’s client. Nonetheless it is a huge deal.

Why?

Because here, we aren’t talking about a mere $195 refund. If it were, I would be saying, “Please don’t waste my time with it.” How about 100x that?

Yep, try $19,500.

What if this happens to YOU?

What would be your first reaction?

Let me guess, right about now there are hundreds of scenarios running through your mind a mile per second. Am I right?

“How do I NOT refund this guy? What are my options?”

“How much would I be able to keep?”

“What if we don’t have any choice but to give the money back?!!! We don’t have any room for this!”

If this happened 10 years ago, this kind of news would put me in a panic attack for 5 min. My heart would be racing with an immense amount of stress. Since then, I’ve handled countless non-payment and refund cases over $30K+ per pop.

So nowadays, my usual response is:

“Alright. Get me all the intel about him.”

See, ideally no business owners should get to this point without doing due diligence to consistently weed out clients from hell. At the same time, though, even with the best intention & strategy, we aren’t completely immune to this kind of incident from time to time.